A user environment, such as a residence or an office building for example, may be configured using various types of load control systems. A lighting control system may be used to control the lighting loads in the user environment. A motorized window treatment control system may be used to control the natural light provided to the user environment. A heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system may be used to control the temperature in the user environment.
Each load control system may include various control devices, including control-source devices and control-target devices. The control-target devices may receive digital messages, which may include load control instructions, for controlling an electrical load from one or more of the control-source devices. The control-target devices may be capable of directly controlling an electrical load. The control-source devices may be capable of indirectly controlling the electrical load via the control-target device.
Examples of control-target devices may include lighting control devices (e.g., a dimmer switch, an electronic switch, a ballast, or a light-emitting diode (LED) driver), a motorized window treatment, a temperature control device (e.g., a thermostat), a plug-in load control device, and/or the like. Examples of control-source devices may include remote control devices, occupancy sensors, daylight sensors, temperature sensors, and/or the like.
To enable a control-target device to recognize instructions received from a control-source device, the control-target device and the control-source device may be associated with one another, such that the control-target device may recognize the digital messages received from the control-source device. The control-target device and the control-source device may be associated with a location to enable control of electrical loads within the location.
FIG. 1 depicts a prior art user environment in which control-source devices and control-target devices may be associated. As shown in FIG. 1, a user environment may include rooms 102, 104, and 106. Each of the rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include control-target devices that may be capable of directly controlling an electrical load. For example, rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include lighting control devices 116, 136, and 146 (e.g., ballasts, LED drivers, or dimmer switches) capable of directly controlling an amount of power provided to lighting loads 118, 140, and 150, respectively. Room 102 may include additional control-target devices, such as a motorized window treatment 120 for directly controlling the covering material 122 (e.g., via an electrical motor), a plug-in load control device 130 for directly controlling a plug-in electrical load (e.g., lamp 132 plugged into the device 130), and a temperature control device (e.g., thermostat 134) for directly controlling an HVAC system.
Rooms 102, 104, and 106 may also include control-source devices capable of indirectly controlling an electrical load by transmitting digital messages, which may include load control instructions, to a control-target device. The control-source devices in rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include remote control devices 124, 142, and 152 that may be mounted to the wall and that may send digital messages to the lighting control devices 116, 136, and 146, respectively. The lighting control devices 116, 136, and 146 may control an amount of power provided to the lighting loads 118, 140, and 150, respectively, based on the digital messages received from the remote control devices 124, 142, and 152. Room 102 may include additional control-source devices, such as an occupancy sensor 110 and a daylight sensor 108. The occupancy sensor 110 may send digital messages to a control-target device based on the detection of movement or occupancy within its observable area. The daylight sensor 108 may send digital messages to a control-target device based on the detection of natural light within its observable area.
As indicated above, each of the control-target devices may have to be associated with one or more control-source devices prior to being able to receive digital messages, which may include load control instructions, from the control-source devices for controlling a corresponding electrical load. The control-source devices and the control-target devices may be associated using a push-button association method 200, which is illustrated in the block diagram in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the association method 200 may begin at 202 and a user 128 (shown in FIG. 1) may actuate a button on a control-target device at 204 to cause the control-target device to enter an association mode. For example, user 128 may actuate buttons 112, 138, and 148 on lighting control devices 116, 136, and 146, respectively, to put the lighting control devices 116, 136, and 146 into association mode. Once the control-target device is in association mode, a button may be actuated on a control-source device at 206 for associating the control-source device with the control-target device. For example, user 128 may actuate button 126 on remote control device 124 to associate the remote control device 124 with the lighting control device 116. The user 128 may actuate button 116 on occupancy sensor 110 and button 114 on daylight sensor 108 to also associate each device with the lighting control device 116. Buttons 144 and 154 may be actuated on remote control devices 142 and 152 to associate the remote control devices 142 and 152 with lighting control devices 136 and 146, respectively. The user 128 may also actuate a button on the plug-in load control device 130 or the temperature control device (e.g., thermostat 134) to associate these control-target devices with a control-source device. After the control-source device is associated with the control-target device at 206, the control-target device may recognize digital messages, which may include load control instructions, from a control-source device and the user 128 may use the control-source device for instructing an associated control-target device to control an amount of power provided to an electrical load at 208. The association method 200 may end at 210.
FIG. 2B shows another prior art association method 220 for associating control-source devices and control-target devices. As shown in FIG. 2B, the association method 220 may start at 222. At 224, each of the control-source devices and control-target devices in the load control system may be identified by user 128. The user 128 may enter a location identifier for a location of a control-source device and/or a control-target device at a computer, such as computer 158 (shown in FIG. 1), at 226. The user 128 may enter each association between a control-source device and a control-target device into a computer, such as computer 158 (shown in FIG. 1), at 228. At 230, each of the control-target devices may be programmed by the user 128, via computer 158, to be capable of recognizing digital messages, which may include load control instructions, from associated control-source devices at an identified location. For example, the computer 158 may send the location identifier for the location of a control-source device to the control-target devices, so that the control-target devices may identify digital messages from the control-source devices in the location. The computer 158 may send a serial number of an associated control-source device to the control-target device so that the control-target device may identify digital messages from the control-source device. The computer 158 may program the control-target device via a load control device controller 156, for example. Once the control-target device is programmed at 230, the control-target device may recognize digital messages from a control-source device at the identified location and the user 128 may use the control-source device for instructing an associated control-target devices at an identified location to control an amount of power provided to an electrical load at 232. The association method 220 may end at 234.
The association methods 200 and 220 require knowledge of each of the devices being associated in a system. The association methods 200 and 220 also require physically actuating buttons on each control-source and/or control-target devices and/or knowledge of the location of each of the devices being associated in the system. Identifying the location of each of the devices in a system may be particularly difficult, as the devices may be installed in a location prior to assigning a communication address for communicating load control instructions to the devices. Such difficulties may cause the users to spend a lot of time searching for particular devices to be configured and, once the devices have been found, performing lengthy configuration methods to enable the devices to control electrical loads in a location. Accordingly, current association methods may be time consuming and inconvenient.